Mark L. Christensen
- Writer
- Producer
- Director
Mark L. Christensen
IMDb Mini Biography
Mark L. Christensen is an American filmmaker, cinematographer, musician, author, entertainer, and early competitive skateboarder and snowboarder. His career has moved through performance, athletics, music, filmmaking, and science writing, with much of his work characterized by self-education and an interest in developing ideas outside conventional career paths.
Mark L. Christensen is an American filmmaker, cinematographer, musician, author, entertainer, and early competitive skateboarder and snowboarder. His career has moved through performance, athletics, music, filmmaking, and science writing, with much of his work characterized by self-education and an interest in developing ideas outside conventional career paths.
Christensen was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, the second of four children of Larry and Sharry Christensen. His father was an executive with Volkswagen of America. The family moved to California when Christensen was about one year old, and he grew up in San Jose and Fremont.
Christensen first became an entertainer through dance. During the 1970s, he and his sister developed a dance act and performed at restaurants and public events, winning a competition at the Salt Lake City County Fair in 1975. After moving to Colorado, he continued performing with the traveling Colorado Crazy road show.
Skateboarding had been part of his life since childhood. Christensen used a skateboard as transportation to school in Fremont and recalls skating his first empty swimming pool around 1970. As the sport developed, he became a sponsored professional competitor with Powell Peralta's Denver division. He won the Sponsored Men Over 18 division at the 1979 Oceanside Freestyle Nationals and appeared in photographs and results published in the November 1979 issue of Skateboarder magazine.
Christensen subsequently became involved in the formative years of snowboarding, competing with early riders including Tom Sims. At the 1982 King of the Mountain competition at Berthoud Pass, Colorado, Christensen competed against Sims and other early snowboarders. He recalls overhearing Sims afterward on a lodge pay phone saying, "I'll get him next year." Sims did. Christensen also experimented with snowboard design, developing what he called the Isometric Snowboard, an example of which is preserved in a snowboard museum collection in Vail, Colorado.
Christensen attended Arapahoe Community College before transferring to the University of Denver. After four years of college study, he chose music over pursuing a conventional architectural career. Having played guitar since childhood, he formed The Guild in 1983 and attended Musicians Institute in Los Angeles in 1986. He moved to Austin, Texas, in 1994 in an attempt to rebuild The Guild, but eventually concluded that filmmaking would give him greater independence in telling his stories.
In 1997, Christensen moved to Los Angeles and began teaching himself filmmaking, frequently calling cinematographers, camera houses, and other film professionals to learn the craft. He shot his first feature, Box Head Revolution, on black-and-white 16mm film, restoring vintage sports cars between weekend shoots to support himself and finance production. Filmmaker Matthew Harrison later became a supporter of the picture and helped introduce it to New York's Pioneer Theater. The film received a one-week New York theatrical engagement in 2002 and attracted coverage from publications including The New York Times, The Village Voice, New York Post, The Christian Science Monitor, and TV Guide.
Christensen's next feature represented a considerable increase in scale. Production on the film originally titled North by El Norte began in 2006. Alice Brooks served as principal cinematographer, bringing Panavision to the 35mm production and helping give the film the polished widescreen appearance Christensen wanted. Christensen, who had acquired Russian 35mm cameras, photographed approximately twenty percent of the picture himself using Panavision lenses. The film starred Danny Trejo.
For its commercial release, Christensen accepted distributor recommendations that included editorial changes and changing the title to American Flyer. After its primary release, Christensen returned to his original conception of the film. Trejo came back to shoot additional scenes, and Christensen created a new director's cut closer to his original screenplay, restoring the title North by El Norte.
Christensen's science writing grew unexpectedly from another screenplay. While researching a futuristic project titled Smoothis, he began investigating scientific questions raised by the story. The research expanded into approximately eight years of independent study and eventually became his 2023 book, Fungus Theory of Conscious Growth, which explores his ideas concerning biological evolution, consciousness, adaptation, technology, and humanity's future.
Christensen has since returned to the recording studio to record Guild songs written largely during the 1980s that were never completed in their original period, while continuing his filmmaking work, including development of Son of an Auschwitz Guard.
Mark L. Christensen is an American filmmaker, cinematographer, musician, author, entertainer, and early competitive skateboarder and snowboarder. His career has moved through performance, athletics, music, filmmaking, and science writing, with much of his work characterized by self-education and an interest in developing ideas outside conventional career paths.
Christensen was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, the second of four children of Larry and Sharry Christensen. His father was an executive with Volkswagen of America. The family moved to California when Christensen was about one year old, and he grew up in San Jose and Fremont.
Christensen first became an entertainer through dance. During the 1970s, he and his sister developed a dance act and performed at restaurants and public events, winning a competition at the Salt Lake City County Fair in 1975. After moving to Colorado, he continued performing with the traveling Colorado Crazy road show.
Skateboarding had been part of his life since childhood. Christensen used a skateboard as transportation to school in Fremont and recalls skating his first empty swimming pool around 1970. As the sport developed, he became a sponsored professional competitor with Powell Peralta's Denver division. He won the Sponsored Men Over 18 division at the 1979 Oceanside Freestyle Nationals and appeared in photographs and results published in the November 1979 issue of Skateboarder magazine.
Christensen subsequently became involved in the formative years of snowboarding, competing with early riders including Tom Sims. At the 1982 King of the Mountain competition at Berthoud Pass, Colorado, Christensen competed against Sims and other early snowboarders. He recalls overhearing Sims afterward on a lodge pay phone saying, "I'll get him next year." Sims did. Christensen also experimented with snowboard design, developing what he called the Isometric Snowboard, an example of which is preserved in a snowboard museum collection in Vail, Colorado.
Christensen attended Arapahoe Community College before transferring to the University of Denver. After four years of college study, he chose music over pursuing a conventional architectural career. Having played guitar since childhood, he formed The Guild in 1983 and attended Musicians Institute in Los Angeles in 1986. He moved to Austin, Texas, in 1994 in an attempt to rebuild The Guild, but eventually concluded that filmmaking would give him greater independence in telling his stories.
In 1997, Christensen moved to Los Angeles and began teaching himself filmmaking, frequently calling cinematographers, camera houses, and other film professionals to learn the craft. He shot his first feature, Box Head Revolution, on black-and-white 16mm film, restoring vintage sports cars between weekend shoots to support himself and finance production. Filmmaker Matthew Harrison later became a supporter of the picture and helped introduce it to New York's Pioneer Theater. The film received a one-week New York theatrical engagement in 2002 and attracted coverage from publications including The New York Times, The Village Voice, New York Post, The Christian Science Monitor, and TV Guide.
Christensen's next feature represented a considerable increase in scale. Production on the film originally titled North by El Norte began in 2006. Alice Brooks served as principal cinematographer, bringing Panavision to the 35mm production and helping give the film the polished widescreen appearance Christensen wanted. Christensen, who had acquired Russian 35mm cameras, photographed approximately twenty percent of the picture himself using Panavision lenses. The film starred Danny Trejo.
For its commercial release, Christensen accepted distributor recommendations that included editorial changes and changing the title to American Flyer. After its primary release, Christensen returned to his original conception of the film. Trejo came back to shoot additional scenes, and Christensen created a new director's cut closer to his original screenplay, restoring the title North by El Norte.
Christensen's science writing grew unexpectedly from another screenplay. While researching a futuristic project titled Smoothis, he began investigating scientific questions raised by the story. The research expanded into approximately eight years of independent study and eventually became his 2023 book, Fungus Theory of Conscious Growth, which explores his ideas concerning biological evolution, consciousness, adaptation, technology, and humanity's future.
Christensen has since returned to the recording studio to record Guild songs written largely during the 1980s that were never completed in their original period, while continuing his filmmaking work, including development of Son of an Auschwitz Guard.
